Saturday, June 12, 2010

globetrotting in iceland: floating in a glacier lagoon

in the sparsely populated southeast iceland, lays vatnajökull, the largest glacier in europe. driving in this area of the country, you are exposed to glacier tongue after glacier tongue, so many that in a short time you lose count. many of these are receding; a famous one, breidamerkurjökull has been melting into a glacier lagoon, jökulsárlón, only since the 1930s.

we took a 45 minute boat trip around the lagoon littered with little icebergs. never mind that the vessel was uncomfortably overflowing with people. peering out at the water, you quickly forget the strangers practically pressing up against you. instead, you stare out in wide-eyed wonder, trying to understand how something so eerily beautiful exists.

the lagoon constantly changes. even in the short time we were there, we saw giant boulders of ice collapse and move before our eyes. it was mystical and absolutely breathtaking.